Once again she was falling. Falling through the empty darkness. Right before she hit the bottom that wasn't even there, she woke up with a little gasp. She expected to see the same darkness she always saw, when waking from this nightmare. But this time she woke to stare right into a pair of bright, green eyes.

The shock made her sit up very sudden, while grabbing her blanket and pulling it closer.

"Harry," Hermione whispered. Then she felt her cheeks blush and she looked down. "Did I wake you?"

"No," he answered softly. "I haven't been sleeping so well lately."

She knew very well what he meant. Since Ron had left them all alone, nothing had seemed right. But her nightmares didn't come from being abandoned by her best friend. They came from their entire, stupid situation. No one had ever said, that hunting Horcrux' would be easy, and she had never expected it to be a walk in the sun. She just hadn't been prepared for all of the side effects.

"You were having a bad dream," Harry stated. She nodded in reply. "Tell me about it."

She felt her bottom lip tremble and cursed herself for being a silly, little girl. It was just a nightmare, not even a horrible one where everyone she loved where dead. But it was scarier than anything else.

Harry had obviously felt her struggle. He moved to sit beside her and held out his one arm. With a small sob she leaned into him and felt his arms close around her.

"It's just so silly" she whispered, fighting back tears.

"It's not silly if it makes you cry," Harry just said. "Tell me."

"It's not the first time, I've had this dream," she started "I have had it many times since this whole thing started. It's always the same. I'm falling through nothing. It's dark all around me, so dark that I can't even see myself. You're going to think this is crazy, but it really feels like I'm falling. Then suddenly, I hit the bottom even though there isn't one. Have you ever tried falling out of your bed?" she asked and raised her head to meet his eyes.

He smiled before answering, "Of course."

"Well, this is like that actually. I feel like I've just rolled off my bed. That's why I wake up the way I do."

"It doesn't sound silly," he whispered and held her even closer, lowering his cheek to rest on her hair. "Do you want to go to sleep again?"

She shook her head. "I don't think I can."

"Do you want to just lie here together then?"

"That sounds good," she answered.

She pushed aside the blanket and waited for Harry lie down first. It was only then she realized that he was only wearing boxers. Suddenly she felt very self conscious and glared down her own body. She was wearing an old t-shirt and her knickers. When she returned to look at Harry, he was smiling at her and holding out his hands. She immediately forgot the t-shirt, the knickers and the boxers and laid her head on his bare chest. His one hand went to hold her shoulder and press her closer to him. The other one played lazily with one of her brown curls.

"How did our world get this messed up?" she asked into the open space. She felt Harry' chest rise in a laugh. "What?"

"Don't you ever stop thinking?" he asked.

"Of course not," she answered "it's impossible to ever truly stop thinking, unless you no longer have life in your body. 'Till then, you will always have some sort of thought…"

Harry stopped her by placing a finger on her lips.

"Hermione…" his tone was a playful scold, which made her chuckle silently.

"I know," she said and sighed. "I know."

They lay there in silence for a while. The finger he had had on her lip was now back in her hair. When she could no longer bear the silence, she asked the question they were both thinking.

"Do you think he will be back?"

There was no need to clarify who 'he' was. They both knew that she was talking about Ron.

Harry sighed deeply before answering her, "I really don't know."

Once again she felt the tears pressing, but she distracted herself by watching her slender fingers make patterns all across Harry' chest. She had never before realized how muscular he really was. Before she could hold herself back, she had her lips pressed against his chest. She heard his sharp intake of breath.

Fast she sad up again and clasped both hands over her mouth. She looked at him with big eyes and he looked back at her with a sly smile.

"Harry, I'm so sorry," she said.

He sad up to and looked her deep in the eyes.

"I was watching you sleep," was all he said. When he noticed her confused look, he continued, "you didn't wake me when you had your nightmare. And I wasn't awake because I was thinking about him. I was watching you sleep. I've done that every night since he left."

"Why?"

"First I tried to convince myself that it was all because I was worried about you. But slowly I realized that I simply liked watching you."

"I don't understand…"

This made Harry laugh. "Really Hermione," he said "you know almost everything, but when it comes to feeling and emotions, you're just as blank as I am, if you ask me anything about Ancient Runes."

She frowned. She didn't like to be called ignorant.

"Stop dancing around it," she demanded. "Tell me what it is, you want to say."

"I'm in love with you." He hadn't meant to say it so boldly, but she demanded the truth and he gave it. When he saw the reaction, he wished he had kept his mouth shut. She was crying.

Hermione felt that all the tears she had tried to hold back for the last hour suddenly spilled out of her. But the reason why she was crying was a mystery to her. She simply didn't know why. She didn't know if she was sad or happy.

As soon as he saw the tears, Harry did what any friend would have done. He tried to comfort her with a hug. She clinged to him desperately and cried.

"I'm sorry," he whispered while he rocked her back and forth. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

Gently she freed herself from him and watched him through watery eyes.

"No," she stammered "I'm glad you did. I don't even know why I'm crying. Must be all the pressure." She tried to laugh, but it sounded more like a croak than anything else. He reached out to her and removed a lonely tear with his thumb. He cupped her cheek with his hand and she closed her eyes.

"I love you, Hermione," the words rang out in the tent and filled her with a bravery she had never felt before. Her eyes opened again and found his. They were sparkling and gave her courage.

Slowly she reached down and felt the hem of her t-shirt. She grabbed it and pulled it over her head. Her breathing was heavier and so was his, she noted. She was still wearing a lazy bra and turned her back to him. He immediately understood what it was she wanted. His trembling fingers touched the sensitive skin on her back before they moved to the clasp of her bra. He had never before tried opening one of these things, and it took him a little while before getting it right. Then he moved his eyes across her back, noting a small birth mark right above the knickers.

"You have a birth mark on your back," he whispered, as if it was hard for him to believe that her seemingly perfect skin had a flaw.

"I know," she answered.

She was just about to turn around and face him, when she felt his lips brush against her skin were she knew the mark to be.

"It's beautiful," he whispered and when she turned around to face him he added, "You're beautiful." The compliment made her blush, but she blushed even deeper when he removed her hands, which had been covering her breasts and saw him look at them intently.

"You're breasts are so gorgeous," he breathed, never looking away from them. "I've fantasized about them many times."

"You have?" she asked surprised. She never really gave any thought to her breasts. They were just there. Sometimes they were even in the way. But when she saw how intently Harry stared at them, she couldn't help being happy that she had them.

"I've fantasized about seeing them, touching them, kissing them…" he blushed, his cheeks turning a lovely shade of pink that made Hermione take his one hand and place it on her right breast. The touch of his rough palm on her sensitive breast and nipple made her gasp; only her own hands had touched her there.

Slowly, Harry grew more confident. He started feeling around her breast, finally settling on the dark pink nipple. He softly gripped it between two fingers and gently rolled and tugged on it, watching her face as he did it, to see what she liked. Her delicate mouth was hanging slightly open and her breathing was heavy. Her curly hair was ruffled and out of control, making her seem like the sexiest thing alive. The sight of her was too much for him.

He leaned in and roughly pressed his lips against her. For a moment she didn't react, this was her first kiss, not counting the awful one from Cormac under the mistletoe, and she didn't know what she was supposed to do, but soon she let go and gave in to the feeling of his lips and his heavy breathing on her lips. Suddenly she felt his tongue licking her lips and she willingly opened her mouth to let him in. The kiss deepened while their tongues danced together. Not before long they had to break the kiss to draw breath freely.

They stared at each other for a little while, both breathing and panting. Then Harry attacked her once more, but this time he went for her jaw, kissing her all the way from chin to ear. When he reached the ear, he gently stroked her earlobe with his tongue. The touch made Hermione shudder, urging Harry to continue. He then moved his kisses behind her ear and followed her long neck all the way to her collarbone, which he gently nibbled at with his lips. He went further down over her chest 'till he reached her breast and nipple.

He gazed upward to look at her face, and she nodded when he caught her eye. With her accept he let his tongue touch her nipple for the very first time. Hermione moaned loudly, and the sound egged him on. While working with his wet tongue on one nipple, he teased the other one with his hands. Then he changed breasts and licked the other as thoroughly as the one before.

Suddenly he felt her hands in his hair gently pushing him down. He stopped licking and sucking withdrew his head and looked at Hermione's face once again. She smiled at him.

"I trust you," she said.

He returned the smile and kissed her passionately before he gently pushed her to lie down and sat between her legs. He moved his hands over her ribcage, caressing her all the way down to her knickers. Slowly he pulled the knickers down, bearing her damp cleft with the curly, brown hair. He moved his hand to cup her steamy core. Hermione moaned heavily and squirmed at his touch. The sight made Harry smile widely and suddenly couldn't fight the urge to smell her sex any longer. He lay on his stomach between her long, slender legs and inhaled her scent. Intoxicating, the only word to describe what he smelled. Well, that and mouthwatering. He couldn't hold back any longer, he had to taste her. Tryingly he let his tongue run over her folds just once, and found that he wasn't at all repulsed by the taste. Just the opposite. And even if that wasn't the case, the way Hermione screamed at his action, would have been enough for him to continue what he started. He began suckling her in earnest. He let his tongue lash over her extremely sensitive clit. Within seconds she was thrashing violently and panting heavily. Her trembling hand came to the back of his head and pulled his closer to her core. Harry growled at this show of need, of lust and worked even harder to make her climax. It wasn't long before he was rewarded with a shriek and an arched back.

He lapped up her juices while she came down, and then moved up her body to watch her flushed face. Her mouth was hanging open and her breathing was heavy. She was looking at his with hooted, sated eyes and a grateful smile.

"I love you," Harry repeated. "Will you let me show you just how much?"

Hermione knew instantly what he was referring to. He wanted to make love to her. Somehow she wasn't in doubt about what to do. She had initiated this whole thing; she wanted to go all the way.

Swallowing hard she said, "Okay."

Harry grinned broadly and kissed her fiercely. Feeling bold Hermione reached out and made contact with Harry's fabric clad erection. He groaned into her mouth at the touch with the groan soon turned to a full-blown moan, as Hermione started moving her fist up and down his length. He pulled away from her with closed eyes and opened mouth. Hermione sat up and rolled Harry onto his back. Then she quickly pulled off his boxers without further delay and her hand quickly made contact with his now bare erection.

"Merlin, 'Mione!" Harry moaned and made Hermione bolder yet. Lowering her head she kissed the top of his erection. In response Harry jumped and made her take the tip of his cock in her mouth. Swirling her tongue around the tip, she enjoyed Harry's vocal response. Just as she was really getting into it, Harry pulled her off and made her lie back. He placed himself between her legs and hovered above her, looking deeply into her eyes.

"You completely sure about this?" he said, a hint of concern in his voice. Hermione reached up and cupped his cheek. Then she nodded. Harry flashed her a brilliant smile and grabbed his erection, guiding it to her virgin entrance. Still holding eye contact he slowly eased himself inside of her. When he hit her barrier he hesitated for a while, but seeing the complete adoration and trust in Hermione's eyes made him trust forward and take er virginity.

Hermione winced in pain, but it was nowhere as strong as she had thought it would be. Harry remained completely still inside her, though it was very hard for him to do. The feeling of her muscles clenching around him – his first time as well – was almost enough to send him over the top. He was sure that he wouldn't last long. But he was going to do his best to make their first time memorable to the both of them. After a minute Hermione opened her eyes again and nodded for him to move. He sighed in relief and gently started moving within her. His strokes were long and slow, but he couldn't keep the pace for long. He started moving faster and more frantically. Hermione was bucking wildly against him and their breaths, hot and heavy, were the only sound heard.

It didn't take long before Harry felt Hermione's nail dig into his back and her walls clenching down on his erection. As soon as he felt her orgasm and heard her keen scream he allowed his own release. Shaking he collapsed on top of her. Her arms went around him and held him tight, stroking his hair. For a while they were both silent; neither knew what to say. Finally Harry broke the silence.